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Saudi overtaken by US as largest oil producer

Bank of America said that the extraction of oil from shale rocks by the US reached a high this year.

oil, energy, GCC oil, GCC energy, Middle East energy, Middle East oil

By AOG Staff

Sun 06 Jul 2014 02:52 PM

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been overtaken by the US as the world's largest oil producer.

A report by the Bank of America said that the extraction of oil from shale rocks by the US reached a high this year.

This year, crude oil output and the production of liquids separated from natural gas in the US exceeded the production in both Saudi Arabia and Russia. The daily output in the US exceeded 11 million barrels in the first half of this year and is expected to rise to 13.1 million barrels a day in 2019. The report said production will remain at the same level for at least 10 years.

"The US increase in supply is a very meaningful chunk of oil," said Francisco Blanch, head of commodities research, Bank of America. "The shale boom is playing a key role in the US recovery. If the US didn't have this energy supply, prices at the pump would be completely unaffordable," he said.

Oil extraction is increasing at shale formations in Texas and North Dakota as companies continue to extract shale oil through fracking.

"The shale production story is bigger than Iraqi production, but it hasn't made the impact on prices you would expect… Typically such a large energy supply growth should bring prices lower, but in fact we're not seeing that because the whole geopolitical situation outside the US is dreadful," said Blanch.

He said this in reference to the activities of a group called the ‘Islamic State’ which has taken over several territories in northern Iraq, raising concerns about Iraq’s oil production.